On August 14th 2000, at the request of President Edmund Dobbin, OSA, Dr. Barbara Wall, Assistant Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences was appointed Special Assistant to the President for Mission, and head the Office for Mission & Ministry. Over the course of the next nine years, Mission & Ministry designed and implemented a variety of new initiatives that sharpened Villanova's commitment to its Catholic identity and Augustinian heritage.

Effective January 1, 2009, President Peter Donohue, OSA selected Dr. Wall to the university's first Vice President of Mission & Ministry. The Office for Mission & Ministry was renamed the Office for Mission & Ministry and was restructured to include direct responsibility for the Augustinian Institute, the Augustinian Historical Institute, Campus Ministry, the Catholic Relief Services Partnership, the Center for Peace and Justice Education, the Patristic, Medieval, Renaissance program and the Theology Institute. 

The Office for Mission & Ministry:

• animates Villanova’s commitment to living out its mission in every facet of University life;
• promotes an inclusive vision of the Catholic intellectual tradition;
• coordinates a variety initiatives relating to the University’s Augustinian heritage
  and Catholic identity;
• encourages programs and research on contemporary problems through the lens
  of Catholic social teaching;
• ensures that the spiritual and sacramental needs of Catholic students are met; and
• extends our Augustinian mission and the work of Villanova University in ways
  which assures its contribution to the continued social and spiritual transformation of our world.